FROM an Aston Martin to a Metro - if it has reached the end of its life it will meet the same fate at Universal Salvage in Sandwich.

A new £350,000 recycling unit, capable of transforming a car to a crushed cube in 25 minutes, has been opened by the Mayor of Sandwich, Cllr Joe Trussler.

It is the latest development at the company's "flagship" site and uses hi-tech equipment along with some equally important manpower to deal with 100 vehicles a day.

Abandoned and accident damaged cars can be dealt with quickly and efficiently, with parts being passed on for recycling.

Universal Salvage chief executive Martin Hynes said when they first came to Sandwich five years ago the auction side of the business was their main concern.

A couple of years down the line they found it was becoming a struggle to sell the low value vehicles.

"We had some vehicles that could be repaired, others that would go to auction and some that had simply reached the end of their life," he said. "It was really a case of finding the right home for these low value vehicles and we decided to apply for a waste management licence."

Mr Hynes said the aim was to find an environmentally friendly way of disposing of the vehicles and selling on the metal.

Cllr Trussler highlighted the problem of abandoned vehicles in the district.

He said anything that speeded up the collection and disposal of these had to be good news.

The whole process has been designed to meet the requirements of the European end of life vehicle directive and it is hoped local authorities will take advantage of it to help with their abandoned car problem.